Audio reception control arrangement and method for a vehicle

ABSTRACT

Arrangement and method for controlling audio reception by occupants of a vehicle in which the position of any occupants is determined and the entertainment system controlled to provide specific sound for the occupants based on the determined positions of the occupants. Sound generating components of the entertainment system are automatically adjustable based on the determined position of the occupants. A hypersonic sound generating system may be used wherein ultrasonic frequency generators generate ultrasonic waves which mix with ultrasonic waves generated by another ultrasonic frequency generator to thereby cause the creation of new audio frequencies in an area determined based on the position of the occupants. In addition, the presence and direction of unwanted noise may be detected and sound created to cancel the unwanted noise in the area including the determined positions of any occupants.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/563,556 filed May 3, 2000 which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/437,535filed Nov. 10, 1999 which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/047,703 filed Mar. 25, 1998, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,039,139, which in turn is: 1) a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/640,068 filed Apr. 30, 1996, now U.S.Pat. No. 5,829,782, which in turn is a continuation application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/239,978 filed May 9, 1994, now abandoned,which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 08/040,978 filed Mar. 31, 1993, now abandoned, which in turn is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/878,571filed May 5, 1992, now abandoned; and 2) a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/905,876 filed Aug. 4, 1997, now U.S. Pat.No. 5,848,802 , which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/505,036 filed Jul. 21, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No.5,653,462, which in turn is a continuation of the 08/040,978 applicationwhich in turn is a continuation-in-part of the 07/878,571 application.

[0002] This application is also related to (in view of common subjectmatter), but does not claim priority from, U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/084,641 filed May 26, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,978, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/047,704 filed Mar. 25, 1998 and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/409,625 filed Oct. 1, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates generally to methods andarrangements for controlling audio reception by occupants of a vehiclein which the position of any occupants is determined and the soundgenerating components of the entertainment system controlled based onthe determined position of any occupants. The position of the occupants,or even more specifically, their heads or ears, can be determined byreceiving radiation from the passenger compartment including areas inwhich occupants would be situated and analyzing the waves using patternrecognition techniques.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] In 1984, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a requirementfor frontal crash protection of automobile occupants. This regulationmandated “passive occupant restraints” for all passenger cars by 1992. Amore recent regulation required both driver and passenger side airbagson all passenger cars and light trucks by 1998. In addition, the demandfor airbags is constantly accelerating in both Europe and Japan and allvehicles produced in these areas and eventually worldwide will likely beequipped with airbags as standard equipment, if they do not include themalready.

[0005] Whereas thousands of lives have been saved by airbags,significant improvements can be made. As discussed in detail in U.S.Pat. No. 5,653,462 referenced above, and included herein by reference,for a variety of reasons, vehicle occupants can be or get too close tothe airbag before it deploys and can be seriously injured or killed upondeployment of the airbag.

[0006] Also, a child in a rear facing child seat, which is placed on theright front passenger seat, is in danger of being seriously injured ifthe passenger airbag deploys. This has now become an industry-wideconcern and the U.S. automobile industry is continually searching for aneasy, economical solution, which will prevent the deployment of thepassenger side airbag if a rear facing child seat is present. Animprovement on the invention disclosed in the above-referenced patent,as will be disclosed in greater detail below, includes moresophisticated means to identify objects within the passenger compartmentand will solve this problem.

[0007] Initially, these systems will solve the out-of-position occupantand the rear facing child seat problems related to current airbagsystems and prevent unneeded deployments when a seat is unoccupied.Airbags are now under development to protect rear seat occupants invehicle crashes. A system is therefore needed to detect the presence ofoccupants, position, i.e., determine if they are out-of-position, andtype, e.g., to identify the presence of a rear facing child seat in therear seat. Current and future automobiles may have eight or more airbagsas protection is sought for rear seat occupants and from side impacts.In addition to eliminating the disturbance of unnecessary airbagdeployments, the cost of replacing these airbags will be excessive ifthey all deploy in an accident. The improvements described belowminimize this cost by not deploying an airbag for a seat, which is notoccupied by a human being. An occupying item of a seat may be a livingoccupant such as a human being or dog, another living organism such as aplant, or an inanimate object such as a box or bag of groceries.

[0008] A device to monitor the vehicle interior and identify itscontents is needed to solve these and many other problems. For example,once a Vehicle Interior Identification and Monitoring System (VIMS) foridentifying and monitoring the contents of a vehicle is in place, manyother products become possible including the following:

[0009] Inflators and control systems now exist which will adjust theamount of gas flowing into and/or out of the airbag to account for thesize and position of the occupant and for the severity of the accident.The vehicle identification and monitoring system of this invention willcontrol such systems based on the presence and position of vehicleoccupants or the presence, position and orientation of an occupied childseat.

[0010] Side impact airbag systems began appearing on 1995 vehicles. Thedanger of deployment induced injuries will exist for side impact airbagsas they now do for frontal impact airbags. A child with his head againstthe airbag is such an example. The system of this invention willminimize such injuries.

[0011] Vehicles can be provided with a standard cellular phone as wellas the Global Positioning System (GPS), an automobile navigation orlocation system with an optional connection to a manned assistancefacility, which is now available on at least one vehicle model. In theevent of an accident, the phone may automatically call 911 for emergencyassistance and report the exact position of the vehicle. If the vehiclealso has a system as described below for monitoring each seat location,the number and perhaps the condition of the occupants could also bereported. In that way, the emergency service (EMS) would know whatequipment and how many ambulances to send to the accident site.Moreover, a communication channel can be opened between the vehicle anda monitoring facility/emergency response facility or personnel to enabledirections to be provided to the occupant(s) of the vehicle to assist inany necessary first aid prior to arrival of the emergency assistancepersonnel.

[0012] Vehicle entertainment system engineers have stated that thequality of the sound in the vehicle could be improved if the number,size and location of occupants and other objects were known. However, itis not believed that, prior to the instant invention, they have thoughtto determine the number, size and/or location of the occupants and usesuch determination in combination with the entertainment system. Indeed,this information can be provided by the vehicle interior identificationand monitoring system of this invention to thereby improve a vehicle'sentertainment system.

[0013] Similarly to the entertainment system, the heating, ventilationand air conditioning system (HVAC) could be improved if the number,attributes and location of vehicle occupants were known. This can beused to provide a climate control system tailored to each occupant, forexample, or the system can be turned off for certain seat locations ifthere are no occupants present at those locations.

[0014] In some cases, the position of a particular part of the occupantis of interest such as: (a) his hand or arm and whether it is in thepath of a closing window so that the motion of the window needs to bestopped; (b) the position of the shoulder so that the seat beltanchorage point can be adjusted for the best protection of the occupant;or, (c) the position of the rear of the occupants head so that theheadrest can be adjusted to minimize whiplash injuries in rear impacts.

[0015] The above applications illustrate the wide range ofopportunities, which become available if the identity and location ofvarious objects and occupants, and some of their parts, within thevehicle were known. Once the system is operational, it would be logicalfor the system to also incorporate the airbag electronic sensor anddiagnostics system (SDM) since it needs to interface with SDM anyway andsince they could share computer capabilities which will result in asignificant cost saving to the auto manufacturer. For the same reasons,it would be logical for VIMS to include the side impact sensor anddiagnostic system. As the VIMS improves to where such things as theexact location of the occupants ears and eyes can be determined, evenmore significant improvements to the entertainment system becomepossible through the use of noise canceling sound, and the rear viewmirror can be automatically adjusted for the driver's eye location.Another example involves the monitoring of the driver's behavior overtime which can be used to warn a driver if he or she is falling asleep,or to stop the vehicle if the driver loses the capacity to control it.

[0016] Using an advanced VIMS, as explained below, the position of thedriver's eyes can be accurately determined and portions of thewindshield can be selectively darkened to eliminate the glare from thesun or oncoming vehicle headlights. This system uses electro-chromicglass, a liquid crystal device, or other appropriate technology, anddetectors to detect the direction of the offending light source. Inaddition to eliminating the glare, the sun visor can now also beeliminated.

[0017] The present invention adds more sophisticated pattern recognitioncapabilities such as fuzzy logic systems, neural network systems orother pattern recognition computer based algorithms to the occupantposition measurement system disclosed in the above referenced copendingpatent application and greatly extends the areas of application of thistechnology. An example of such a pattern recognition system using neuralnetworks using sonar is discussed in two papers by Gorman, R. P. andSejnowski, T. J. “Analysis of Hidden Units in a Layered Network Trainedto Classify Sonar Targets”, Neural Networks, Vol.1. pp. 75-89, 1988, and“Learned Classification of Sonar Targets Using a Massively ParallelNetwork”, IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing,Vol. 36, No. 7, July 1988.

[0018] Preferred embodiments of the invention are described below andunless specifically noted, it is the applicants' intention that thewords and phrases in the specification and claims be given the ordinaryand accustomed meaning to those of ordinary skill in the applicableart(s). If the applicant intends any other meaning, he will specificallystate he is applying a special meaning to a word or phrase.

[0019] Likewise, applicants' use of the word “function” here is notintended to indicate that the applicants seek to invoke the specialprovisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, to define theirinvention. To the contrary, if applicants wish to invoke the provisionsof 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, to define their invention, they willspecifically set forth in the claims the phrases “means for” or “stepfor” and a function, without also reciting in that phrase any structure,material or act in support of the function. Moreover, even if applicantsinvoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, to definetheir invention, it is the applicants' intention that their inventionsnot be limited to the specific structure, material or acts that aredescribed in the preferred embodiments herein. Rather, if applicantsclaim their inventions by specifically invoking the provisions of 35U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, it is nonetheless their intention to coverand include any and all structure, materials or acts that perform theclaimed function, along with any and all known or later developedequivalent structures, materials or acts for performing the claimedfunction.

[0020] “Pattern recognition” as used herein will generally mean anysystem which processes a signal that is generated by an object, or ismodified by interacting with an object, in order to determine which oneof a set of classes that the object belongs to. Such a system mightdetermine only that the object is or is not a member of one specifiedclass, or it might attempt to assign the object to one of a larger setof specified classes, or find that it is not a member of any of theclasses in the set. The signals processed are generally electricalsignals coming from transducers which are sensitive to either acousticor electromagnetic radiation and if electromagnetic, they can be eithervisible light, infrared, ultraviolet, radar or other part of theelectromagnetic spectrum.

[0021] “To identify” as used herein will generally mean to determinethat the object belongs to a particular set or class. The class may beone containing all rear facing child seats, one containing all humanoccupants, all human occupants not sitting in a rear facing child seat,or all humans in a certain height or weight range depending on thepurpose of the system. In the case where a particular person is to berecognized, the set or class will contain only a single element, theperson to be recognized.

[0022] Some examples follow:

[0023] In a passive infrared system a detector receives infraredradiation from an object in its field of view, in this case the vehicleoccupant, and determines the temperature of the occupant based on theinfrared radiation. The VIMS can then respond to the temperature of theoccupant, which can either be a child in a rear facing child seat or anormally seated occupant, to control some other system. This technologycould provide input data to a pattern recognition system but it haslimitations related to temperature. The sensing of the child could posea problem if the child is covered with blankets. It also might not bepossible to differentiate between a rear facing child seat and a forwardfacing child seat. In all cases, the technology will fail to detect theoccupant if the ambient temperature reaches body temperature as it doesin hot climates. Nevertheless, for use in the control of the vehicleclimate, for example, a passive infrared system that permits an accuratemeasurement of each occupant's temperature is useful.

[0024] In a laser optical system an infrared laser beam is used tomomentarily illuminate an object, occupant or child seat in the manneras described, and illustrated in FIG. 8, of U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462cross-referenced above. In some cases, a charge-coupled device (a typeof TV camera also referred to as a CCD array) or a CMOS device is usedto receive the reflected light. The laser can either be used in ascanning mode, or, through the use of a lens, a cone of light can becreated which covers a large portion of the object. Also triangulationcan be used in conjunction with an offset scanning laser to determinethe range of the illuminated spot from the light detector. In each case,a pattern recognition system, as defined above, is used to identify andclassify, and can be used to locate, the illuminated object and itsconstituent parts. This system provides the most information about theobject and at a rapid data rate. Its main drawback is cost which isconsiderably above that of ultrasonic or passive infrared systems. Asthe cost of lasers comes down in the future, this system will becomemore competitive. Depending on the implementation of the system, theremay be some concern for the safety of the occupant if the laser lightcan enter the occupant's eyes. This is minimized if the laser operatesin the infrared spectrum.

[0025] Radar systems have similar properties to the laser systemdiscussed above. The wavelength of a particular radar system can limitthe ability of the pattern recognition system to detect object featuressmaller than a certain size. Once again, however, there is some concernabout the health effects of radar on children and other occupants. Thisconcern is expressed in various reports available from the United StatesFood and Drug Administration Division of Devices. Naturally,electromagnetic waves from other parts of the electromagnetic spectrumcould also be used such as, for example, those used with what aresometimes referred to as capacitive sensors, e.g., as described in U.S.patents by Kithil et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,366,241, 5,602,734, 5,691,693,5,802,479, 5,844,486 and 6,014,602 and by Jinno et al. U.S. Pat. No.5,948,031 which are included herein by reference.

[0026] The ultrasonic system is the least expensive and potentiallyprovides less information than the optical or radar systems due to thedelays resulting from the speed of sound and due to the wave lengthwhich is considerably longer than the optical (including infrared)systems. The wavelength limits the detail, which can be seen by thesystem. In spite of these limitations, as shown below, ultrasonics canprovide sufficient timely information to permit the position andvelocity of an occupant to be accurately known and, when used with anappropriate pattern recognition system, it is capable of positivelydetermining the presence of a rear facing child seat. One patternrecognition system which has been used to identify a rear facing childseat uses neural networks and is similar to that described in theabove-referenced papers by Gorman et al.

[0027] A focusing system, such as used on some camera systems, could beused to determine the initial position of an occupant but is too slow tomonitor his position during a crash. This is a result of the mechanicalmotions required to operate the lens focusing system. By itself itcannot determine the presence of a rear facing child seat or of anoccupant but when used with a charge-coupled device plus some infraredillumination for night vision, and an appropriate pattern recognitionsystem, this becomes possible.

[0028] From the above discussion, it can be seen that the addition ofsophisticated pattern recognition means to any of the standardillumination and/or reception technologies for use in a motor vehiclepermits the development of a host of new products, systems orcapabilities heretofore not available and as described in more detailbelow.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0029] Briefly, the claimed inventions are methods and arrangements fordetermining that there is a life form, e.g., a human being, in a vehicleand the location of the life form, i.e., in which seat the life form issituated. This determination is used in various methods and arrangementsfor, e.g., controlling an entertainment system as desired by theoccupants.

[0030] The determination can also used in various methods andarrangements for, e.g., controlling deployment of occupant restraintdevices in the event of a vehicle crash, controlling heating andair-conditioning systems to optimize the comfort for any occupants,controlling an entertainment system as desired by the occupants,controlling a glare prevention device for the occupants, preventingaccidents by a driver who is unable to safely drive the vehicle andenabling an effective and optimal response in the event of a crash(either oral directions to be communicated to the occupants or thedispatch of personnel to aid the occupants). Thus, one objective of theinvention is to obtain information about occupancy of a vehicle andconvey this information to remotely situated assistance personnel tooptimize their response to a crash involving the vehicle and/or enableproper assistance to be rendered to the occupants after the crash.

[0031] Principle objects and advantages of the claimed invention are:

[0032] 1. To recognize the presence of a human on a particular seat of amotor vehicle and to use this information to affect the operation ofanother vehicle system such as the entertainment system, airbag system,heating and air conditioning system, pedal adjustment system, mirroradjustment system, wireless data link system or cellular phone, amongothers.

[0033] 2. To recognize the presence of a human on a particular seat of amotor vehicle and then to determine his/her position and to use thisposition information to affect the operation of another vehicle system.

[0034] 3. To affect the vehicle entertainment system, e.g., thespeakers, based on a determination of the number, size and/or locationof various occupants or other objects within the vehicle passengercompartment.

[0035] 4. To determine the location of the ears of one or more vehicleoccupants and to use that information to control the entertainmentsystem, e.g., the speakers, so as to improve the quality of the soundreaching the occupants' ears through such methods as noise cancelingsound.

[0036] Principle objects and advantages of other disclosed inventionsthat can be used in conjunction with the claimed invention are:

[0037] 5. To recognize the presence of a human on a particular seat of amotor vehicle and then to determine his/her velocity relative to thepassenger compartment and to use this velocity information to affect theoperation of another vehicle system.

[0038] 6. To determine the position of a seat in the vehicle usingsensors remote from the seat and to use that information in conjunctionwith a memory system and appropriate actuators to position the seat to apredetermined location.

[0039] 7. To determine the position, velocity or size of an occupant ina motor vehicle and to utilize this information to control the rate ofgas generation, or the amount of gas generated, by an airbag inflatorsystem or otherwise control the flow of gas into or out of an airbag.

[0040] 8. To determine the fact that an occupant is not restrained by aseatbelt and therefore to modify the characteristics of the airbagsystem. This determination can be done either by monitoring the positionof the occupant or through the use of a resonating device placed on theshoulder belt portion of the seatbelt.

[0041] 9. To determine the presence and/or position of rear seatedoccupants in the vehicle and to use this information to affect theoperation of a rear seat protection airbag for frontal impacts.

[0042] 10. To determine the presence and/or position of occupantsrelative to the side impact airbag systems and to use this informationto affect the operation of a side impact protection airbag system.

[0043] 11. To determine the openness of a vehicle window and to use thatinformation to affect another vehicle system.

[0044] 12. To determine the presence of an occupant's hand or otherobject in the path of a closing window and to affect the window closingsystem.

[0045] 13. To remotely determine the fact that a vehicle door is nottightly closed using an illumination transmitting and receiving systemsuch as one employing electromagnetic or acoustic waves.

[0046] 14. To determine the position of the shoulder of a vehicleoccupant and to use that information to control the seatbelt anchoragepoint.

[0047] 15. To determine the position of the rear of an occupant's headand to use that information to control the position of the headrest.

[0048] 16. To recognize the presence of a rear facing child seat on aparticular seat of a motor vehicle and to use this information to affectthe operation of another vehicle system such as the airbag system.

[0049] 17. To determine the total number of occupants of a vehicle andin the event of an accident to transmit that information, as well asother information such as the condition of the occupants, to a receiverremote from the vehicle.

[0050] 18. To affect the vehicle heating, ventilation and airconditioning system based on a determination of the number, size andlocation of various occupants or other objects within the vehiclepassenger compartment.

[0051] 19. To determine the temperature of an occupant based on infraredradiation coming from that occupant and to use that information tocontrol the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

[0052] 20. To provide a vehicle interior monitoring system fordetermining the location of occupants within the vehicle and to includewithin the same system various electronics for controlling an airbagsystem.

[0053] 21. To determine the approximate location of the eyes of a driverand to use that information to control the position of the rear viewmirrors of the vehicle.

[0054] 22. To monitor the position of the head of the vehicle driver anddetermine whether the driver is falling asleep or otherwise impaired andlikely to lose control of the vehicle and to use that information toaffect another vehicle system.

[0055] 23. To monitor the position of the eyelids of the vehicle driverand determine whether the driver is falling asleep or otherwise impairedand likely to lose control of the vehicle, or is unconscious after anaccident and to use that information to affect another vehicle system.

[0056] 24. To determine the location of the eyes of a vehicle occupantand the direction of a light source such as the headlights of anoncoming vehicle or the sun and to cause a filter to be placed in such amanner as to reduce the intensity of the light striking the eyes of theoccupant.

[0057] 25. To determine the location of the eyes of a vehicle occupantand the direction of a light source such as the headlights of a rearapproaching vehicle or the sun and to cause a filter to be placed insuch a manner as to reduce the intensity of the light reflected from therear view mirrors and striking the eyes of the occupant.

[0058] 26. To recognize a particular driver based on such factors asphysical appearance or other attributes and to use this information tocontrol another vehicle system such as a security system, seatadjustment, or maximum permitted vehicle velocity, among others.

[0059] 27. To provide an occupant sensor which determines the presenceand health state of any occupants in a vehicle. The presence of theoccupants may be determined using an animal life or heart beat sensor.

[0060] 28. To provide an occupant sensor which determines whether anyoccupants of the vehicle are breathing by analyzing the occupant'smotion. It can also be determined whether an occupant is breathing withdifficulty.

[0061] 29. To provide an occupant sensor which determines whether anyoccupants of the vehicle are breathing by analyzing the chemicalcomposition of the air/gas in the vehicle, e.g., in proximity of theoccupant's mouth.

[0062] 30. To provide an occupant sensor which determines whether anyoccupants of the vehicle are conscious by analyzing movement of theireyes.

[0063] 31. To provide an occupant sensor which determines whether anyoccupants of the vehicle are wounded to the extent that they arebleeding by analyzing air/gas in the vehicle, e.g., directly around eachoccupant.

[0064] 32. To provide an occupant sensor which determines the presenceand health state of any occupants in the vehicle by analyzing soundsemanating from the passenger compartment. Such sounds can be directed toa remote, manned site for consideration in dispatching responsepersonnel.

[0065] 33. To provide an occupant sensor which determines whether anyoccupants of the vehicle are moving using radar systems, e.g.,micropower impulse radar (MIR), which can also detect the heartbeats ofany occupants.

[0066] 34. To provide a vehicle monitoring system which provides acommunications channel between the vehicle (possibly through microphonesdistributed throughout the vehicle) and a manned assistance facility toenable communications with the occupants after a crash or whenever theoccupants are in need of assistance (e.g., if the occupants are lost,then data forming maps as a navigational aid would be transmitted to thevehicle).

[0067] In order to achieve the objects of the invention, an arrangementfor controlling audio reception by at least one occupant of a passengercompartment of the vehicle comprises a monitoring system for determiningthe position of the occupant(s) and sound generating means coupled tothe monitoring system for generating specific sounds. The soundgenerating means are automatically adjustable based on the determinedposition of the occupant(s) such that the specific sounds are audible tothe occupant(s). The sound generating means may utilize hypersonicsound, e.g., comprise one or more pairs of ultrasonic frequencygenerators for generating ultrasonic waves whereby for each pair, theultrasonic frequency generators generate ultrasonic waves which mix tothereby create new audio frequencies. Each pair of ultrasonic frequencygenerators is controlled independently of the others so that each of theoccupants is able to have different new audio frequencies created.

[0068] For noise cancellation purposes, the vehicle can include a systemfor detecting the presence and direction of unwanted noise whereby thesound generating means are coupled to the unwanted noise presence anddetection system and direct sound to prevent reception of the unwantednoise by the occupant(s).

[0069] If the sound generating means comprise speakers, the speakersbeing controllable based on the determined positions of the occupantssuch that at least one speaker directs sounds toward each occupant.

[0070] The monitoring system may be any type of system which is capableof determining the location of the occupant, or more specifically, thelocation of the head or ears of the occupants. For example, themonitoring system may comprise at least one wave-receiving sensor forreceiving waves from the passenger compartment, and a processor coupledto the wave-receiving sensor(s) for determining the position of theoccupant(s) based on the waves received by the wave-receiving sensor(s).The monitoring system can also determine the position of objects otherthan the occupants and control the sound generating means inconsideration of the determined position of the objects.

[0071] A method for controlling audio reception by occupants in avehicle comprises the steps of determining the position of at least oneoccupant of the vehicle, providing a sound generator for generatingspecific sounds and automatically adjusting the sound generator based onthe determined position of the occupant(s) such that the specific soundsare audible to the occupant(s). The features of the arrangementdescribed above may be used in the method.

[0072] Another arrangement for controlling audio reception by occupantsof a passenger compartment of the vehicle comprises a monitoring systemfor determining the presence of any occupants and sound generating meanscoupled to the monitoring system for generating specific sounds. Thesound generating means are automatically adjustable based on thedetermined presence of any occupants such that the specific sounds areaudible to any occupants present in the passenger compartment. Themonitoring system and sound generating means may be as in thearrangement described above. However, in this case, the sound generatingmeans are controlled based on the determined presence of the occupants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0073] The following drawings are illustrative of embodiments of thesystem developed or adapted using the teachings of this invention andare not meant to limit the scope of the invention as encompassed by theclaims.

[0074]FIG. 1 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a rear facing child seat onthe front passenger seat and a preferred mounting location for anoccupant and rear facing child seat presence detector.

[0075]FIG. 1A is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a rear facing child seat onthe front passenger seat having a resonator or reflector placed onto theforward most portion of the child seat.

[0076]FIG. 2 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed showingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and the vehicle cellular communication system.

[0077]FIG. 2A is a diagram of one exemplifying embodiment of theinvention.

[0078]FIG. 3 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed showingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and the vehicle heating and air conditioningsystem.

[0079]FIG. 4 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed showingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and the vehicle airbag system.

[0080]FIG. 5 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed showingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and the vehicle entertainment system.

[0081]FIG. 5A is a schematic representation of a vehicle in which theentertainment system utilizes hypersonic sound.

[0082]FIG. 6 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a driver and a preferredmounting location for an occupant identification system.

[0083]FIG. 7A is a functional block diagram of the ultrasonic imagingsystem illustrated in FIG. 1 using a microprocessor.

[0084]FIG. 7B is a functional block diagram of the ultrasonic imagingsystem illustrated in FIG. 1 using an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC).

[0085]FIG. 8 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a box on the frontpassenger seat and a preferred mounting location for an occupant andrear facing child seat presence detector.

[0086]FIG. 9 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a driver and a preferredmounting location for an occupant position sensor for use in sideimpacts and also of a rear of occupant's head locator for use with aheadrest adjustment system to reduce whiplash injuries in rear impactcrashes.

[0087]FIG. 10 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a front passenger and apreferred mounting location for an occupant head detector and apreferred mounting location of an adjustable microphone and speakers.

[0088]FIG. 11 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a subjectvehicle and an oncoming vehicle, showing the headlights of the oncomingvehicle and the passenger compartment of the subject vehicle, containingdetectors of the driver's eyes and detectors for the headlights of theoncoming vehicle and the selective filtering of the light of theapproaching vehicle's headlights through the use of electro-chromicglass in the windshield.

[0089]FIG. 11A is an enlarged view of the section 11A in FIG. 11.

[0090]FIG. 12 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleand a following vehicle showing the headlights of the following vehicleand the passenger compartment of the leading vehicle containing a driverand a preferred mounting location for driver eyes and following vehicleheadlight detectors and the selective filtering of the light of thefollowing vehicle's headlights through the use of electro-chromic glassin the rear view mirror.

[0091]FIG. 12A is an enlarged view of the section designated 12A in FIG.12.

[0092]FIG. 12B is an enlarged view of the section designated 12B in FIG.12A.

[0093]FIG. 13 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicleshowing the passenger compartment containing a driver, a shoulder heightsensor and a seatbelt anchorage adjustment system.

[0094]FIG. 14 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of a seat inthe passenger compartment of a vehicle showing the use of ultrasonicresonators or reflectors to determine the position of the seat.

[0095]FIG. 15 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of thepassenger compartment of a vehicle showing the use of ultrasonicresonators or reflectors to determine the position of the driverseatbelt.

[0096]FIG. 16 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of thepassenger compartment of a vehicle showing the use of an ultrasonicresonator or reflector to determine the extent of opening of the driverwindow and of a system for determining the presence of an object, suchas the hand of an occupant, in the window opening.

[0097]FIG. 16A is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of thepassenger compartment of a vehicle showing the use of an ultrasonicresonator or reflectors to determine the extent of opening of the driverwindow and of another system for determining the presence of an object,such as the hand of an occupant, in the window opening.

[0098]FIG. 17 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed of thepassenger compartment of a vehicle showing the use of an ultrasonicresonator or reflectors to determine the extent of opening of the driverside door.

[0099]FIG. 18 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed showingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and the vehicle security system.

[0100]FIG. 19 is a side view with parts cutaway and removed showingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and an instrument panel mounted inattentivenesswarning light or buzzer and reset button.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0101] Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein the same referencenumerals refer to the same or similar elements, FIG. 1 is a side view,with parts cutaway and removed of a vehicle showing the passengercompartment containing a rear facing child seat 110 on a front passengerseat 120 and a preferred mounting location for a first embodiment of avehicle interior monitoring system in accordance with the invention. Theinterior monitoring system is capable of detecting the presence of anoccupant and the rear facing child seat 110. In this embodiment, threetransducers 131, 132 and 133 are used, although any number ofwave-transmitting transducers or radiation-receiving receivers may beused. Such transducers or receivers may be of the type which emit orreceive a continuous signal, a time varying signal or a spacial varyingsignal such as in a scanning system. One particular type ofradiation-receiving receiver for use in the invention is a receivercapable of receiving electromagnetic waves. In an embodiment whereinultrasonic energy is used, transducer 132 transmits ultrasonic energytoward the front passenger seat, which is modified, in this case by theoccupying item of the passenger seat, i.e., the rear facing child seat110, and the modified waves are received by the transducers 131 and 133.Modification of the ultrasonic energy may constitute reflection of theultrasonic energy as the ultrasonic energy is reflected back by theoccupying item of the seat. The waves received by transducers 131 and133 vary with time depending on the shape of the object occupying thepassenger seat, in this case the rear facing child seat 110. Each objectwill reflect back waves having a different pattern. Also, the pattern ofwaves received by transducer 131 will differ slightly from the patternreceived by transducer 133 in view of its different mounting location.In some systems, this difference permits the determination of locationof the reflecting surface (i.e., the rear facing child seat 110) throughtriangulation. Through the use of two transducers 131, 133, a sort ofstereographic image is received by the two transducers and recorded foranalysis by processor 101, which is coupled to the transducers 131, 132,133. This image will differ for each object that is placed on thevehicle seat and it will also change for each position of a particularobject and for each position of the vehicle seat. Elements 131, 132,133, although described as transducers, are representative of any typeof component used in a wave-based analysis technique, including, e.g., atransmitter and a capacitor plate.

[0102] The “image” recorded from each ultrasonic transducer/receiver,for ultrasonic systems, is actually a time series of digitized data ofthe amplitude of the received signal versus time. Since there are tworeceivers, two time series are obtained which are processed by theprocessor 101. The processor 101 may include electronic circuitry andassociated, embedded software. Processor 101 constitutes one form ofgenerating means in accordance with the invention which generatesinformation about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based onthe waves received by the transducers 131, 132, 133.

[0103] When different objects are placed on the front passenger seat,the two images from transducers 131, 133 are different but there arealso similarities between all images of rear facing child seats, forexample, regardless of where on the vehicle seat it is placed andregardless of what company manufactured the child seat. Alternately,there will be similarities between all images of people sitting on theseat regardless of what they are wearing, their age or size. The problemis to find the “rules” which differentiate the images of one type ofobject from the images of other types of objects, e.g., whichdifferentiate the occupant images from the rear facing child seatimages. The similarities of these images for various child seats arefrequently not obvious to a person looking at plots of the time seriesand thus computer algorithms are developed to sort out the variouspatterns. For a more detailed discussion of pattern recognition see U.S.Pat. No. 5,943,295 to Varga et. al., which is included herein byreference.

[0104] The determination of these rules is central to the patternrecognition techniques used in this invention. In general, threeapproaches have been useful, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic andartificial neural networks (although additional types of patternrecognition techniques may also be used, such as sensor fusion). In someimplementations of this invention, such as the determination that thereis an object in the path of a closing window as described below, therules are sufficiently obvious that a trained researcher can look at thereturned acoustic signals and devise a simple algorithm to make therequired determinations. In others, such as the determination of thepresence of a rear facing child seat or of an occupant, artificialneural networks are used to determine the rules. One such set of neuralnetwork software for determining the pattern recognition rules isavailable from the NeuralWare Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pa.

[0105] The system used in a preferred implementation of this inventionfor the determination of the presence of a rear facing child seat, of anoccupant or of an empty seat is the artificial neural network. In thiscase, the network operates on the two returned signals as sensed bytransducers 131 and 133. Through a training session, the system istaught to differentiate between the three cases. This is done byconducting a large number of experiments where all possible child seatsare placed in all possible orientations on the front passenger seat.Similarly, a sufficiently large number of experiments are run with humanoccupants and with boxes, bags of groceries and other objects (bothinanimate and animate). Sometimes as many as 1,000,000 such experimentsare run before the neural network is sufficiently trained so that it candifferentiate among the three cases and output the correct decision witha very high probability. Of course, it must be realized that a neuralnetwork can also be trained to differentiate among additional cases,e.g., a forward facing child seat.

[0106] Once the network is determined, it is possible to examine theresult using tools supplied by NeuralWare, for example, to determine therules that were finally arrived at by the trial and error techniques. Inthat case, the rules can then be programmed into a microprocessorresulting in a fuzzy logic or other rule based system. Alternately, aneural computer can be used to implement the net directly. In eithercase, the implementation can be carried out by those skilled in the artof pattern recognition. If a microprocessor is used, a memory device isalso required to store the data from the analog to digital convertersthat digitize the data from the receiving transducers. On the otherhand, if a neural network computer is used, the analog signal can be feddirectly from the transducers to the neural network input nodes and anintermediate memory is not required. Memory of some type is needed tostore the computer programs in the case of the microprocessor system andif the neural computer is used for more than one task, a memory isneeded to store the network specific values associated with each task.

[0107] An alternate system is shown in FIG. 2, which is a side viewshowing schematically the interface between the vehicle interiormonitoring system of this invention and the vehicle cellularcommunication system. In this view, an adult occupant 210 is shownsitting on the front passenger seat 220 and two transducers 231 and 232are used to determine the presence (or absence) of the occupant on thatseat 220. One of the transducers 232 in this case acts as both atransmitter and receiver while transducer 231 acts only as a receiver.Alternately, transducer 231 could serve as both a transmitter andreceiver or the transmitting function could be alternated between thetwo devices. Also, in many cases more that two transmitters andreceivers are used and in still other cases other types of sensors, suchas weight, seatbelt, heartbeat, motion and seat position sensors, arealso used in combination with the radiation sensors. As was also thecase in FIG. 1, the transducers 231 and 232 are attached to the vehicleburied in the A-pillar trim, where their presence is disguised, and areconnected to processor 101 that may also hidden in the trim as shown(this being a non-limiting position for the processor 101). The A-pillaris the roof support pillar that is closest to the front of the vehicleand which, in addition to supporting the roof, also supports the frontwindshield and the front door. Naturally, other mounting locations canalso be used.

[0108] The interface between the monitoring system and the cellularphone system is shown schematically by box 240 that outputs to anantenna 250A. The transducers 231 and 232 in conjunction with thepattern recognition hardware and software, which is implemented inprocessor 101 and is packaged on a printed circuit board or flex circuitalong with the transducers 231 and 232, determine the presence of anoccupant within a few seconds after the vehicle is started. Similarsystems located to monitor the remaining seats in the vehicle, alsodetermine the presence of occupants at the other seating locations andthis result is stored in the computer memory which is part of eachmonitoring system processor 101. In the event of an accident, theelectronic system associated with the cellular phone system interrogatesthe various interior monitoring system memories and arrives at a countof the number of occupants in the vehicle, and in more sophisticatedsystems, even makes a determination as to whether each occupant waswearing a seatbelt and if he or she is moving after the accident. Thephone system then automatically dials the EMS operator (such as 911) andthe information obtained from the interior monitoring systems isforwarded so that a determination can be made as to the number ofambulances and other equipment to send to the accident site. Vehicleshaving this capability are now in service but are not believed to useany of the innovative interior monitoring systems described herein. Suchvehicles will also have a system, such as the global positioning system,which permits the vehicle to determine its exact location and to forwardthis information to the EMS operator.

[0109] Thus, in basic embodiments of the invention, wave orenergy-receiving transducers are arranged in the vehicle at appropriatelocations, trained if necessary depending on the particular embodiment,and function to determine whether a life form is present in the vehicleand if so, how many life forms are present. A determination can also bemade using the transducers as to whether the life forms are humans, ormore specifically, adults, child in child seas, etc. As noted above andbelow, this is possible using pattern recognition techniques. Moreover,the processor or processors associated with the transducers can betrained to determine the location of the life forms, either periodicallyor continuously or possibly only immediately before, during and after acrash. The location of the life forms can be as general or as specificas necessary depending on the system requirements, i.e., a determinationcan be made that a human is situated on the driver's seat in a normalposition (general) or a determination can be made that a human issituated on the driver's seat and is leaning forward and/or to the sideat a specific angle as well as the position of his or her extremitiesand head and chest (specific). The degree of detail is limited byseveral factors, including, e.g., the number and position of transducersand training of the pattern recognition algorithm.

[0110] In addition to the use of transducers to determine the presenceand location of occupants in a vehicle, other sensors could also beused. For example, a heartbeat sensor which determines the number andpresence of heartbeats can also be arranged in the vehicle. Conventionalheartbeat sensors can be adapted to differentiate between a heartbeat ofan adult, a heartbeat of a child and a heartbeat of an animal. As itsname implies, a heartbeat sensor detects a heartbeat, and the magnitudethereof, of a human occupant of the seat, if such a human occupant ispresent. The output of the heartbeat sensor is input to the processor ofthe interior monitoring system. One heartbeat sensor for use in theinvention may be of the types as disclosed in McEwan (U.S. Pat. Nos.5,573,012 and 5,766,208 which are included herein in their entirety byreference). The heartbeat sensor can be positioned at any convenientposition relative to the seats where occupancy is being monitored. Apreferred location is within the vehicle seatback.

[0111] Another type of sensor which is not believed to have been used inan interior monitoring system heretofore is a micropower impulse radar(MIR) sensor which determines motion of an occupant and thus candetermine his or her heartbeat (as evidenced by motion of the chest).Such an MIR sensor could be arranged to detect motion in a particulararea in which the occupant's chest would most likely be situated orcould be coupled to an arrangement which determines the location of theoccupant's chest and then adjusts the operational field of the MIRsensor based on the determined location of the occupant's chest. Amotion sensor utilizing a micro-power impulse radar (MIR) system asdisclosed, for example, in McEwan (U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,070, which isincluded herein by reference), as well as many other patents by the sameinventor. Motion sensing is accomplished by monitoring a particularrange from the sensor as disclosed in that patent. MIR is one form ofradar which has applicability to occupant sensing and can be mounted atvarious locations in the vehicle. It has an advantage over ultrasonicsensors in that data can be acquired at a higher speed and thus themotion of an occupant can be more easily tracked. The ability to obtainreturns over the entire occupancy range is somewhat more difficult thanwith ultrasound resulting in a more expensive system overall. MIR hasadditional advantages in lack of sensitivity to temperature variationand has a comparable resolution to about 40 kHz ultrasound. Resolutioncomparable to higher frequency is feasible but has not beendemonstrated. Additionally, multiple MIR sensors can be used when highspeed tracking of the motion of an occupant during a crash is requiredsince they can be individually pulsed without interfering with eachthrough time division multiplexing.

[0112] An alternative way to determine motion of the occupant(s) wouldbe to monitor the weight distribution of the occupant whereby changes inweight distribution after an accident would be highly suggestive ofmovement of the occupant. A system for determining the weightdistribution of the occupants could be integrated or otherwise arrangedin the seats 120,220 of the vehicle and several patents and publicationsdescribe such systems.

[0113] More generally, any sensor which determines the presence andhealth state of an occupant could also be integrated into the vehicleinterior monitoring system in accordance with the invention. Forexample, a sensitive motion sensor can determine whether an occupant isbreathing and a chemical sensor can determine the amount of carbondioxide, or the concentration of carbon dioxide, in the air in thevehicle which can be correlated to the health state of the occupant(s).The motion sensor and chemical sensor can be designed to have a fixedoperational field situated where the occupant's mouth is most likely tobe located. In the alternative, the motion sensor and chemical sensorcan be adjustable and adapted to adjust their operational field inconjunction with a determination by an occupant position and locationsensor which would determine the location of specific parts of theoccupant's body, e.g., his or her chest or mouth. Furthermore, anoccupant position and location sensor can be used to determine thelocation of the occupant's eyes and determine whether the occupant isconscious, i.e., whether his or her eyes are open or closed or moving.

[0114] The use of chemical sensors could also conceivably be used todetect whether there is blood present in the vehicle, e.g., after anaccident. Additionally, microphones can detect whether there is noise inthe vehicle caused by groaning, yelling, etc., and transmit any suchnoise through the cellular connection to a remote listening facility(such as operated by OnStar™).

[0115]FIG. 2A shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of theinvention including a system for determining the presence and healthstate of any occupants of the vehicle and a telecommunications link.This embodiment includes means for determining the presence of anyoccupants 10 which may take the form of a heartbeat sensor or motionsensor as described above and means for determining the health state ofany occupants 12. The latter means may be integrated into the means fordetermining the presence of any occupants, i.e., one and the samecomponent, or separate therefrom. Further, means for determining thelocation, and optionally velocity, of the occupants or one or more partsthereof 14 are provided and may be any conventional occupant positionsensor or preferably, one of the occupant position sensors as describedherein (e.g., those utilizing waves or electromagnetic radiation) or asdescribed in the current assignee's patents and patent applicationsreferenced A processor 16 is coupled to the presence determining means10, the health state determining means 12 and the location determiningmeans 14. A communications unit 18 is coupled to the processor 16. Theprocessor 16 and/or communications unit 18 can also be coupled tomicrophones 20 distributed throughout the vehicle and includevoice-processing circuitry to enable the occupant(s) to effect vocalcontrol of the processor 16, communications unit 18 or any coupledcomponent or oral communications via the communications unit 18. Theprocessor 16 is also coupled to another vehicular system, component orsubsystem 22 and can issue control commands to effect adjustment of theoperating conditions of the system, component or subsystem. Such asystem, component or subsystem can be the heating or air-conditioningsystem, the entertainment system, an occupant restraint device such asan airbag, a glare prevention system, etc. Also, a positioning system 24could be coupled to the processor 16 and provides an indication of theabsolute position of the vehicle, preferably using satellite-basedpositioning technology (e.g., a GPS receiver).

[0116] In normal use (other than after a crash), the presencedetermining means 10 determine whether any human occupants are present,i.e., adults or children, and the location determining means 14determine the occupant's location. The processor 16 receives signalsrepresentative of the presence of occupants and their location anddetermines whether the vehicular system, component or subsystem 22 canbe modified to optimize its operation for the specific arrangement ofoccupants. For example, if the processor 16 determines that only thefront seats in the vehicle are occupied, it could control the heatingsystem to provide heat only through vents situated to provide heat forthe front-seated occupants.

[0117] Another possible vehicular system, component or subsystem is anavigational aid, i.e., a route display or map. In this case, theposition of the vehicle as determined by the positioning system 24 isconveyed through processor 16 to the communications unit 18 to a remotefacility and a map is transmitted from this facility to the vehicle tobe displayed on the route display. If directions are needed, a requestfor the same could be entered into an input unit 26 associated with theprocessor 16 and transmitted to the facility. Data for the display mapand/or vocal instructions could be transmitted from this facility to thevehicle.

[0118] Moreover, using this embodiment, it is possible to remotelymonitor the health state of the occupants in the vehicle and mostimportantly, the driver. The health state determining means 12 may beused to detect whether the driver's breathing is erratic or indicativeof a state in which the driver is dozing off. The health statedetermining means 12 could also include a breath-analyzer to determinewhether the driver's breath contains alcohol. In this case, the healthstate of the driver is relayed through the processor 16 and thecommunications unit 18 to the remote facility and appropriate action canbe taken. For example, it would be possible to transmit a command to thevehicle to activate an alarm or illuminate a warning light or if thevehicle is equipped with an automatic guidance system and ignitionshut-off, to cause the vehicle to come to a stop on the shoulder of theroadway or elsewhere out of the traffic stream. The alarm, warninglight, automatic guidance system and ignition shut-off are thusparticular vehicular components or subsystems represented by 22.

[0119] In use after a crash, the presence determining means 10, healthstate determining means 12 and location determining means 14 obtainreadings from the passenger compartment and direct such readings to theprocessor 16. The processor 16 analyzes the information and directs orcontrols the transmission of the information about the occupant(s) to aremote, manned facility. Such information would include the number andtype of occupants, i.e., adults, children, infants, whether any of theoccupants have stopped breathing or are breathing erratically, whetherthe occupants are conscious (as evidenced by, e.g., eye motion), whetherblood is present (as detected by a chemical sensor) and whether theoccupants are making noise. Moreover, the communications link throughthe communications unit 18 can be activated immediately after the crashto enable personnel at the remote facility to initiate communicationswith the vehicle.

[0120] The control of the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning(HVAC) system alone would probably not justify the implementation of aninterior monitoring system at least until the time comes when electronicheating and cooling systems replace the conventional systems now used.Nevertheless, if the monitoring system is present, it can be used tocontrol the HVAC for a small increment in cost. The advantage of such asystem is that since most vehicles contain only a single occupant, thereis no need to direct heat or air conditioning to unoccupied seats. Thispermits the most rapid heating or cooling for the driver when thevehicle is first started and he is alone without heating or coolingunoccupied seats. Since the HVAC system does consume energy, an energysaving also results by only heating and cooling the driver when he isalone.

[0121]FIG. 3 shows a side view of a vehicle passenger compartmentshowing schematically an interface 260 between the vehicle interiormonitoring system of this invention and the vehicle heating and airconditioning system. In addition to the transducers 231 and 232, whichat least in this embodiment are preferably acoustic transducers, aninfrared sensor 234 is also shown mounted in the A-pillar and isconstructed and operated to monitor the temperature of the occupant. Theoutput from each of the transducers is fed into processor 101 that is inturn connected to interface 260. In this manner, the HVAC control isbased on the occupant's temperature rather than that of the ambient airin the vehicle, as well as the determined presence of the occupant viatransducers 231,232 as described above. This also permits each vehicleoccupant to be independently monitored and the HVAC system to beadjusted for each occupant either based on a set temperature for alloccupants or, alternately, each occupant could be permitted to set hisown preferred temperature through adjusting a control knob shownschematically as 250 in FIG. 3. Since the monitoring system is alreadyinstalled in the vehicle with its own associated electronics includingprocessor 101, the infrared sensor can be added with little additionalcost and can share the processing unit.

[0122] Not only can this system be used for directing hot and cold air,but developments in the field of directing sound using hyper-sound (alsoreferred to as hypersonic sound) now make it possible to accuratelydirect sound to the vicinity of the ears of an occupant so that onlythat occupant can hear the sound. The system of this invention can thusbe used to find the proximate direction of the ears of the occupant forthis purpose. Additional discussion of this aspect is set forth belowwith respect to FIG. 5A.

[0123] Hypersonic sound is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No.5,885,129 (Norris), U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,870 (Norris) and U.S. Pat. No.6,016,351 (Raida et al.) and International Publication No. WO 00/18031which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety to theextent the disclosure of these references is necessary. By practicingthe techniques described in these patents and the publication, in somecases coupled with a mechanical or acoustical steering mechanism, soundcan be directed to the location of the ears of a particular vehicleoccupant in such a manner that the other occupants can barely hear thesound, if at all. This is particularly the case when the vehicle isoperating at high speeds on the highway and a high level of “white”noise is present. In this manner, one occupant can be listening to thenews while another is listening to an opera, for example. Naturally,white noise can also be added to the vehicle and generated by thehypersonic sound system if necessary when the vehicle is stopped ortraveling in heavy traffic. Thus, several occupants of a vehicle canlisten to different programming without the other occupants hearing thatprogramming. This can be accomplished using hypersonic sound withoutrequiring earphones.

[0124] In principle, hypersonic sound utilizes the emission of inaudibleultrasonic frequencies that mix in air and result in the generation ofnew audio frequencies. A hypersonic sound system is a highly efficientconverter of electrical energy to acoustical energy. Sound is created inair at any desired point which provides flexibility and allowsmanipulation of the perceived location of the source of the sound.Speaker enclosures are thus rendered dispensable. The dispersion of themixing area of the ultrasonic frequencies and thus the area in which thenew audio frequencies are audible can be controlled to provide a verynarrow or wide area as desired.

[0125] The audio mixing area generated by each set of two ultrasonicfrequency generators in accordance with the invention could thus bedirectly in front of the ultrasonic frequency generators in which casethe audio frequencies would travel from the mixing area in a narrowstraight beam or cone to the occupant. Also, the mixing area couldinclude only a single ear of an occupant (another mixing area beingformed by ultrasonic frequencies generated by a set of two otherultrasonic frequency generators at the location of the other ear of theoccupant with presumably but not definitely the same new audiofrequencies) or be large enough to encompass the head and both ears ofthe occupant. If so desired, the mixing area could even be controlled toencompass the determined location of the ears of multiple occupants,e.g., occupants seated one behind the other or one next to another.

[0126] The use of the vehicle interior monitoring system to control thedeployment of an airbag is discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. No.5,653,462 referenced above. In that case, the control is based on theuse of a simple pattern recognition system to differentiate between theoccupant and his extremities in order to provide an accuratedetermination of the position of the occupant relative to the airbag. Ifthe occupant is sufficiently close to the airbag module that he is morelikely to be injured by the deployment itself than by the accident, thedeployment of the airbag is suppressed. This process is carried furtherby the interior monitoring system described herein in that the nature oridentity of the object occupying the vehicle seat is used to contributeto the airbag deployment decision. FIG. 4 shows a side view illustratingschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention and the vehicle airbag system 270.

[0127] In this embodiment, an ultrasonic transducer 232 transmits aburst of ultrasonic waves that travel to the occupant where they arereflected back to transducers or receptors/receivers 231 and 232. Thetime period required for the waves to travel from the generator andreturn is used to determine the distance from the occupant to the airbagas described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462, i.e., andthus may also be used to determine the position or location of theoccupant. In the case of this invention, however, the portion of thereturn signal, which represents the occupants' head or chest, has beendetermined based on pattern recognition techniques such as a neuralnetwork. The relative velocity of the occupant toward the airbag canthen be determined, from successive position measurements, which permitsa sufficiently accurate prediction of the time when the occupant wouldbecome proximate to the airbag. By comparing the occupant relativevelocity to the integral of the crash deceleration pulse, adetermination as to whether the occupant is being restrained by aseatbelt can also be made which then can affect the airbag deploymentinitiation decision. Alternately, the mere knowledge that the occupanthas moved a distance which would not be possible if he were wearing aseatbelt gives information that he is not wearing one.

[0128] A more detailed discussion of this process and of the advantagesof the various technologies, such as acoustic or electromagnetic, can befound in SAE paper 940527, “Vehicle Occupant Position Sensing” by Breedet al, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety to theextent the disclosure of this paper is necessary. In this paper, it isdemonstrated that the time delay required for acoustic waves to travelto the occupant and return does not prevent the use of acoustics forposition measurement of occupants during the crash event. For positionmeasurement and for many pattern recognition applications, ultrasonicsis the preferred technology due to the lack of adverse health effectsand the low cost of ultrasonic systems compared with either laser orradar. The main limiting feature of ultrasonics is the wavelength, whichplaces a limitation on the size of features that can be discerned.Optical systems, for example, are required when the identification ofparticular individuals is required.

[0129] It is well known among acoustics engineers that the quality ofsound coming from an entertainment system can be substantially affectedby the characteristics and contents of the space in which it operatesand the surfaces surrounding that space. When an engineer is designing asystem for an automobile he has a great deal of knowledge about thatspace and of the vehicle surfaces surrounding it. He has littleknowledge of how many occupants are likely to be in the vehicle on aparticular day, however, and therefore the system is a compromise. Ifthe system knew the number and position of the vehicle occupants, andmaybe even their size, then adjustments could be made in the systemoutput and the sound quality improved. FIG. 5, therefore, illustratesschematically the interface between the vehicle interior monitoringsystem of this invention, i.e., transducers 231, 232 and processor 101which operate as set forth above, and the vehicle entertainment system280. The particular design of the entertainment system that uses theinformation provided by the monitoring system can be determined by thoseskilled in the appropriate art. Perhaps in combination with this system,the quality of the sound system can be measured by the audio systemitself either by using the speakers as receiving units also or throughthe use of special microphones. The quality of the sound can then beadjusted according to the vehicle occupancy and the reflectivity of thevehicle occupants. If, for example, certain frequencies are beingreflected more that others, the audio amplifier can be adjusted toamplify those frequencies to a lesser amount that others.

[0130] Vehicle entertainment system 280 may include means for generatingand transmitting sound waves at the ears of the occupants, the positionof which are detected by transducers 231,232 and processor 101, as wellas means for detecting the presence and direction of unwanted noise. Inthis manner, appropriate sound waves can be generated and transmitted tothe occupant to cancel the unwanted noise and thereby optimize thecomfort of the occupant, i.e., the reception of the desired sound fromthe entertainment system 280.

[0131] More particularly, the entertainment system 280 includes soundgenerating components such as speakers, the output of which can becontrolled to enable particular occupants to each listen to a specificmusical selection. As such, each occupant can listen to different music,or multiple occupants can listen to the same music while otheroccupant(s) listen to different music. Control of the speakers to directsound waves at a particular occupant, i.e., at the ears of theparticular occupant located in any of the ways discussed herein, can beenabled by any known manner in the art, for example, speakers having anadjustable position and/or orientation or speakers producing directablesound waves. In this manner, once the occupants are located, thespeakers are controlled to direct the sound waves at the occupant, oreven more specifically, at the head or ears of the occupants.

[0132]FIG. 5A shows a schematic of a vehicle with four sound generatingunits 281, 282, 283, 284 forming part of the entertainment system 280 ofthe vehicle which is coupled to the processor 101. Sound generating unit281 is located to provide sound to the driver. Sound generating unit 282is located to provide sound for the front-seated passenger. Soundgenerating unit 283 is located to provide sound for the passenger in therear seat behind the driver and sound generating unit 284 is located toprovide sound for the passenger in the rear seat behind the front-seatedpassenger. A single sound generating unit could be used to provide soundfor multiple locations or multiple sound generating units could be usedto provide sound for a single location.

[0133] Sound generating units 281,282,283,284 operate independently andare activated independently so that, for example, when the rear seat isempty, sound generating units 283,284 are not operated. This constitutescontrol of the entertainment system based on, e.g., the presence, numberand position of the occupants. Further, each sound generating unit281-284 can generate different sounds so as to customize the audioreception for each occupant.

[0134] Each sound generating units 281, 282, 283, 284 may be constructedto utilize hypersonic sound to enable specific, desired sounds to bedirected to each occupant independent of sound directed to anotheroccupant. The construction of sound generating units utilizinghypersonic sound is described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,885,129,5,889,870 and 6,016,351 mentioned above and incorporated by referenceherein. In general, in hypersonic sound, ultrasonic waves are generatedby a pair of ultrasonic frequency generators and mix after generation tocreate new audio frequencies. By appropriate positioning, orientationand/or control of the ultrasonic frequency generators, the new audiofrequencies will be created in an area encompassing the head of theoccupant intended to receive the new audio frequencies. Control of thesound generating units 281-284 is accomplished automatically upon adetermination by the monitoring system of at least the position of anyoccupants.

[0135] Furthermore, multiple sound generating units or speakers can beprovided for each sitting position and these sound generating units orspeakers independently activated so that only those sound generatingunits or speakers which provide sound waves at the determined positionof the ears of the occupant will be activated. In this case, there couldbe four speakers associated with each seat and only two speakers wouldbe activated for, e.g., a small person whose ears are determined to bebelow the upper edge of the seat, whereas the other two would beactivated for a large person whose ears are determined to be above theupper edge of the seat. All four could be activated for a medium sizeperson. This type of control, i.e., control over which of a plurality ofspeakers are activated, would likely be most advantageous when theoutput direction of the speakers is fixed in position and provide soundwaves only for a predetermined region of the passenger compartment.

[0136] When the entertainment system comprises speakers which generateactual audio frequencies, the speakers can be controlled to providedifferent outputs for the speakers based on the occupancy of the seats.For example, using the identification methods disclosed herein, theidentity of the occupants can be determined in association with eachseating position and, by enabling such occupants to store musicpreferences, e.g., a radio station, the speakers associated with eachseating position can be controlled to provide music from the respectiveradio station. The speakers could also be automatically directed ororientatable so that at least one speaker directs sound toward eachoccupant present in the vehicle. Speakers which cannot direct sound toan occupant would not be activated.

[0137] Thus, one of the more remarkable advantages of the improved audioreception system and method disclosed herein is that by monitoring theposition of the occupants, the entertainment system can be controlledwithout manual input to optimize audio reception by the occupants.

[0138] The maximum acoustic frequency that is practical to use foracoustic imaging in the systems is about 40 to 160 kilohertz (kHz). Thewavelength of a 50 kHz acoustic wave is about 0.6 cm which is too coarseto determine the fine features of a person's face, for example. It iswell understood by those skilled in the art that features which aresmaller than the wavelength of the irradiating radiation cannot bedistinguished. Similarly the wave length of common radar systems variesfrom about 0.9 cm (for 33,000 MHz K band) to 133 cm (for 225 MHz P band)which is also too coarse for person identification systems. In FIG. 6,therefore, the ultrasonic transducers of the previous designs arereplaced by laser transducers 231 and 232 which are connected to amicroprocessor 101. In all other manners, the system operates the same.The design of the electronic circuits for this laser system is describedin some detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462 cross-referenced above and inparticular FIG. 8 thereof and the corresponding description. In thiscase, a pattern recognition system such as a neural network system isemployed and uses the demodulated signals from the receptors 231 and232.

[0139] The output of processor 101 of the monitoring system is shownconnected schematically to a general interface 290 which can be thevehicle ignition enabling system; the entertainment system; the seat,mirror, suspension or other adjustment systems; or any other appropriatevehicle system.

[0140] There are two preferred methods of implementing the vehicleinterior monitoring system of this invention, a microprocessor systemand an application specific integrated circuit system (ASIC). Both ofthese systems are represented schematically as either 101 or 601 herein.In some systems, both a microprocessor and an ASIC are used. In othersystems, most if not all of the circuitry is combined onto a single chip(system on a chip). The particular implementation depends on thequantity to be made and economic considerations. A block diagramillustrating the microprocessor system is shown in FIG. 7A which showsthe implementation of the system of FIG. 1. An alternate implementationof the FIG. 1 system using an ASIC is shown in FIG. 7B. In both casesthe target, which may be a rear facing child seat, is shownschematically as 110 and the three transducers as 131, 132, and 133. Inthe embodiment of FIG. 7A, there is a digitizer coupled to the receivers131, 133 and the processor, and an indicator coupled to the processor.In the embodiment of FIG. 7B, there is a memory unit associated with theASIC and also an indicator coupled to the ASIC.

[0141] In FIG. 8, a view of the system of FIG. 1 is illustrated with abox 295 shown on the front passenger seat in place of a rear facingchild seat. The vehicle interior monitoring system is trained torecognize that this box 295 is neither a rear facing child seat nor anoccupant and therefore it is treated as an empty seat and the deploymentof the airbag is suppressed. This training is accomplished using aneural network with the commercially available software disclosed aboveand provided, for example, by NeuralWare of Pittsburgh. The systemassesses the probability that the box is a person, however, and if thereis even the remotest chance that it is a person, the airbag deploymentis not suppressed. The system is thus typically biased toward enablingairbag deployment.

[0142] Side impact airbags are now used on some vehicles. Some are quitesmall compared to driver or passenger airbags used for frontal impactprotection. Nevertheless, a small child could be injured if he issleeping with his head against the airbag module when the airbag deploysand a vehicle interior monitoring system is needed to prevent such adeployment. In FIG. 9, a single ultrasonic transducer 330 is shownmounted in a door adjacent airbag system 332 which houses an airbag 336.Similar to the embodiment in FIG. 4 with reference to U.S. Pat. No.5,653,462, the airbag system 332 and components of the interiormonitoring system, e.g., transducer 330, are coupled to a processor 101Aincluding a control circuit 101B for controlling deployment of theairbag 336 based on information obtained by ultrasonic transducer 330.This device is not used to identify the object that is adjacent theairbag but merely to measure the position of the object. It can also beused to determine the presence of the object, i.e., the received wavesare indicative of the presence or absence of an occupant as well as theposition of the occupant or a part thereof. Instead of an ultrasonictransducer, another wave-receiving transducer may be used as describedin any of the other embodiments herein, either solely for performing awave-receiving function or for performing both a wave-receiving functionand a wave-transmitting function.

[0143] A rear-of-head detector 334 is also illustrated in FIG. 9. Thisdetector 334 is used to determine the distance from the headrest to therearmost position of the occupant's head and to therefore control theposition of the headrest so that it is properly positioned behind theoccupant's head to offer optimum support during a rear impact. Althoughthe headrest of most vehicles is adjustable, it is rare for an occupantto position it properly if at all. Each year there are in excess of400,000 whiplash injuries in vehicle impacts approximately 90,000 ofwhich are from rear impacts (source: National Highway Traffic SafetyAdmin.). A properly positioned headrest could substantially reduce thefrequency of such injuries, which can be accomplished by the headdetector of this invention. The head detector 334 is shown connectedschematically to the headrest control mechanism and circuitry 340. Thismechanism is capable of moving the headrest up and down and, in somecases, rotating it fore and aft.

[0144] When the driver of a vehicle is using a cellular phone, the phonemicrophone frequently picks up other noise in the vehicle making itdifficult for the other party to hear what is being said. This noise canbe reduced if a directional microphone is used and directed toward themouth of the driver. This is difficult to do since the position ofdrivers' mouths varies significantly depending on such things as thesize and seating position of the driver. By using the vehicle interioridentification and monitoring system of this invention, and throughappropriate pattern recognition techniques, the location of the driver'shead can be determined with sufficient accuracy even with ultrasonics topermit a directional microphone having a 15 degree cone angle to beaimed at the mouth of the driver resulting in a clear reception of hisvoice. The use of directional speakers in a similar manner also improvesthe telephone system performance. In the extreme case of directionality,the techniques of hypersound can be used. Such a system can also be usedto permit effortless conversations between occupants of the front andrear seats. Such a system is shown in FIG. 10 which is a system similarto that of FIG. 2 only using three ultrasonic transducers 231, 232 and233 to determine the location of the driver's head and control thepointing direction of a microphone 355. Speaker 357 is shown connectedschematically to the phone system 359 completing the system.

[0145] The transducers 231 and 232 are placed high in the A-pillar andthe third transducer 233 is placed in the headliner and displacedhorizontally from transducers 231 and 232. The two transducers 231 and232 provide information to permit the determination of the locus of thehead in the vertical direction and the combination of one of transducers231 and 232 in conjunction with transducer 233 is used to determine thehorizontal location of the head. The three transducers are placed highin the vehicle passenger compartment so that the first returned signalis from the head. Temporal filtering is used to eliminate signals whichare reflections from beyond the head and the determination of the headcenter location is then found by the approximate centroid of the headreturned signal. That is, once the location of the return signalcentroid is found from each of the three received signals fromtransducers 231, 232 and 233, the distance to that point is known foreach of the transducers based on the time it takes the signal to travelfrom the head to each transducer. In this manner, by using the threetransducers plus an algorithm for finding the coordinates of the headcenter, using processor 101, and through the use of known relationshipsbetween the location of the mouth and the head center, an estimate ofthe mouth location, and the ear locations, can be easily determinedwithin a circle having a diameter of about five inches (13 cm). This issufficiently accurate for a directional microphone to cover the mouthwhile excluding the majority of unwanted noise.

[0146] The headlights of oncoming vehicles frequently make it difficultfor the driver of a vehicle to see the road and safely operate thevehicle. This is a significant cause of accidents and much discomfort.The problem is especially severe during bad weather where rain can causemultiple reflections. Visors are now used to partially solve thisproblem but they do so by completely blocking the view through a largeportion of the window and therefore cannot be used to cover the entirewindshield. Similar problems happen when the sun is setting or risingand the driver is operating the vehicle in the direction of the sun. Thevehicle interior monitoring system of this invention can contribute tothe solution of this problem by determining the position of the driver'seyes. If separate sensors are used to sense the direction of the lightfrom the on-coming vehicle or the sun, and through the use ofelectro-chromic glass, a liquid crystal device, or other appropriatetechnology, a portion of the windshield can be darkened to impose afilter between the eyes of the driver and the light source.Electro-chromic glass is a material where the color of the glass can bechanged through the application of an electric current. By dividing thewindshield into a controlled grid or matrix of contiguous areas andthrough feeding the current into the windshield from orthogonaldirections, selective portions of the windshield can be darkened asdesired. Other systems for selectively imposing a filter between theeyes of an occupant and the light source are currently underdevelopment.

[0147]FIG. 11 illustrates how such a system operates. A sensor 410located on vehicle 402 determines the direction of the light 412 fromthe headlights of oncoming vehicle 404. Sensor 410 is comprised of alens and a charge-coupled device (CCD), of CMOS light sensing or similardevice, with appropriate electronic circuitry which determines whichelements of the CCD are being most brightly illuminated. An algorithmstored in processor 101 then calculates the direction of the light fromthe oncoming headlights based on the information from the CCD, or CMOSdevice. Transducers 231, 232 and 233 determine the probable location ofthe eyes of the operator 210 of vehicle 402 in a manner such asdescribed above in conjunction with the determination of the location ofthe driver's mouth in the discussion of FIG. 10. In this case, however,the determination of the probable locus of the driver's eyes is madewith an accuracy of a diameter for each eye of about 3 inches (7.5 cm).This calculation sometimes will be in error and provision is made forthe driver to make an adjustment to correct for this error as describedbelow.

[0148] The windshield 416 of vehicle 402 is made from electro-chromicglass or comprises a liquid crystal device or similar system, and isselectively darkened at area 418 due to the application of a currentalong perpendicular directions 422 and 424 of windshield 416. Theparticular portion of the windshield to be darkened is determined byprocessor 101. Once the direction of the light from the oncoming vehicleis known and the locations of the driver's eyes are known, it is amatter of simple trigonometry to determine which areas of the windshieldmatrix should be darkened to impose a filter between the headlights andthe driver's eyes. This is accomplished by processor 101. A separatecontrol system, not shown, located on the instrument panel, or at someother convenient location, allows the driver to select the amount ofdarkening accomplished by the system from no darkening to maximumdarkening. In this manner, the driver can select the amount of lightthat is filtered to suit his particular physiology. The sensor 410 caneither be designed to respond to a single light source or to multiplelight sources to be sensed and thus multiple portions of the vehiclewindshield to be darkened.

[0149] As mentioned above, the calculations of the location of thedriver's eyes using acoustic systems may be in error and thereforeprovision must be made to correct for this error. One such systempermits the driver to adjust the center of the darkened portion of thewindshield to correct for such errors through a knob on the instrumentpanel, steering wheel or other convenient location. Another solutionpermits the driver to make the adjustment by slightly moving his head.Once a calculation as to the location of the driver's eyes has beenmade, that calculation is not changed even though the driver moves hishead slightly. It is assumed that the driver will only move his head tocenter the darkened portion of the windshield to optimally filter thelight from the oncoming vehicle. The monitoring system will detect thisinitial head motion and make the correction automatically for futurecalculations.

[0150] Electro-chromic glass is currently used in rear view mirrors todarken the entire mirror in response to the amount of light striking anassociated sensor. This substantially reduces the ability of the driverto see objects coming from behind his vehicle. If one rear-approachingvehicle, for example, has failed to dim his lights, the mirror will bedarkened to respond to the light from that vehicle making it difficultfor the driver to see other vehicles that are also approaching from therear. If the rear view mirror is selectively darkened on only thoseportions which cover the lights from the offending vehicle, the driveris able to see all of the light coming from the rear whether the sourceis bright or dim. This permits the driver to see all of the approachingvehicles not just the one with bright lights.

[0151] Such a system is illustrated in FIG. 12 where rear view mirror460 is equipped with electro-chromic glass, or comprises a liquidcrystal device, having the capability of being selectively darkened,e.g., at area 419. Associated with mirror 460 is a light sensor 462 thatdetermines the direction of light 412 from the headlights of rearapproaching vehicle 405. In the same manner as above, transducers 231,232 and 233 determine the location of the eyes of the driver 210. Thesignals from both sensor systems, 231, 232 plus 233 and 462, arecombined in processor 101, where a determination is made as to whatportions of the mirror should be darkened, e.g., area 419. Appropriatecurrents are then sent to the mirror in a manner similar to thewindshield system described above.

[0152] Seatbelts are most effective when the upper attachment point tothe vehicle is positioned vertically close to the shoulder of theoccupant being restrained. If the attachment point is too low theoccupant experiences discomfort from the rubbing of the belt on hisshoulder. If it is too high, the occupant may experience discomfort dueto the rubbing of the belt against his neck and the occupant will moveforward by a greater amount during a crash which may result in his headstriking the steering wheel. Women in particular experience discomfortfrom an improperly adjusted seatbelt anchorage point. For these reasons,it is desirable to have the upper seatbelt attachment point locatedslightly above the occupant's shoulder. To accomplish this for varioussized occupants, the location of the occupant's shoulder must be knownwhich can be accomplished by the vehicle interior monitoring systemdescribed herein. Such a system is illustrated in FIG. 13 that is a sideview of a seatbelt anchorage adjustment system. In this system, atransmitter and receiver (transducer) 520 is positioned in a convenientlocation, such as the headliner, located above and to the outside of theoccupant's shoulder. A narrow elliptical beam 521 of energy istransmitted from transducer 520 in a manner such that it irradiates orilluminates the occupant's shoulder and headrest. An appropriate patternrecognition system as described above is then used to determine thelocation and position of the shoulder. This information is fed to theseatbelt anchorage height adjustment system 528, shown schematically,which moves the attachment point 529 to the optimum vertical location.

[0153] Acoustic resonators are devices that resonate at a presetfrequency when excited at that frequency. If such a device, which hasbeen tuned to 40 kHz, is subjected to ultrasonic radiation at 40 kHz,for example, it will return a signal that is much stronger than thereflected radiation. If such a device is placed at a particular point inthe passenger compartment of a vehicle, the returned signal can beeasily identified as a high magnitude narrow signal at a particularpoint in time which is proportional to the distance from the resonatorto the receiver. Since this device can be easily identified, it providesa particularly effective method of determining the distance to aparticular point in the vehicle passenger compartment. If several suchresonators are used they can be tuned to slightly different frequenciesand therefore separated and identified by the circuitry. Using suchresonators the positions of various objects in the vehicle can bedetermined. In FIG. 14 for example, three such resonators are placed onthe vehicle seat and used to determine the location of the front andback of the seat and the top of the seat back. In this case, transducers231 and 232, mounted in the A-pillar 662, are used in conjunction withresonators 641, 642 and 643 to determine the position of the seat. Thisinformation is then fed to the seat memory and adjustment system, notshown, eliminating the currently used sensors that are placed typicallybeneath the seat adjacent the seat adjustment motors. In theconventional system, the seat sensors must be wired into the seatadjustment system and are prone to being damaged. By using the vehicleinterior monitoring system alone with inexpensive passive resonators,the conventional seat sensors can be eliminated resulting in a costsaving to the vehicle manufacturer. An efficient reflector, such as aparabolic shaped reflector, can be used in a similar manner as theresonator.

[0154] Resonators or reflectors, of the type described above can be usedfor making a variety of position measurements in the vehicle. Theseresonators are made to resonate at a particular frequency. If the numberof resonators increases beyond a reasonable number, dual frequencyresonators can be used. A pair of frequencies is then used to identify aparticular location. Alternately, resonators tuned to a particularfrequency can be used in combination with special transmitters, whichtransmit at the tuned frequency, which are designed to work with aparticular resonator or group of resonators. The cost of the transducersis sufficiently low to permit special transducers to be used for specialpurposes. The use of resonators which resonate at different frequenciesrequires that they be irradiated by radiation containing thosefrequencies.

[0155] Another application for a resonator of the type described is todetermine the location of the seatbelt and therefore determine whetherit is in use. If it is known that the occupants are wearing seatbelts,the airbag deployment threshold can be increased since the airbag is notneeded in low velocity accidents if the occupants are already restrainedby seatbelts. This will reduce the number of deployments for cases wherethe airbag provides little or no improvement in safety over theseatbelt. FIG. 15, for example, shows the placement of a resonator 602onto the front surface of the seatbelt where it can be sensed by thetransducers 231 and 232. Such a system can also be used to positivelyidentify the presence of a rear facing child seat in the vehicle. Inthis case the resonator 603 is placed onto the forward most portion ofthe child seat, or in some other convenient position, as shown in FIG.1A.

[0156] Other uses for such resonators include placing them on doors andwindows in order to determine whether either is open or closed. In FIG.16A, for example, such a resonator 604 is placed onto the top of thewindow and is sensed by transducers 611 and 612. In this case,transducers 611 and 612 also monitor the space between the edge of thewindow glass and the top of the window opening. Many vehicles now havesystems which permit the rapid opening of the window, called “expressopen”, by a momentary push of a button. For example, when a vehicleapproaches a tollbooth, the driver needs only touch the window controlbutton and the window opens rapidly. Some automobile manufacturers donot wish to use such systems for closing the window, called “expressclose”, because of the fear that the hand of the driver, or of a childleaning forward from the rear seat, or some other object, could getcaught between the window and window frame. If the space between theedge of the window and the window frame were monitored with an interiormonitoring system, this problem can be solved. The presence of theresonator or reflector 604 on the top of the window glass also gives apositive indication of where the top surface is and reflections frombelow that point can be ignored.

[0157] Various design variations of the window monitoring system arepossible and the particular choice will depend on the requirements ofthe vehicle manufacturer and the characteristics of the vehicle. Twosystems will be briefly described here.

[0158] In the first example shown in FIG. 16, a singletransmitter/receiver (transducer) 613 is used in place of and locatedcentrally midway between the transducers 611 and 612 shown in FIG. 16A.A recording of the output of transducer 613 is made of the open windowwithout an object in the space between the window edge and the top ofthe window frame. When in operation, the transducer 613 receives thereturn signal from the space it is monitoring and compares that signalwith the stored signal referenced above. This is done by processor 601.If the difference between the test signal and the stored signalindicates that there is a reflecting object in the monitored space, thewindow is prevented from closing in the express close mode. If thewindow is part way up, a reflection will be received from the edge ofthe window glass which, in most cases, is easily identifiable from thereflection of a hand for example. A simple algorithm based on theintensity of the reflection in most cases is sufficient to determinethat an object rather than the window edge is in the monitored space. Inother cases, the algorithm is used to identify the window edge andignore that reflection and all other reflections which are lower (i.e.later in time) than the window edge. In all cases, the system willdefault in not permitting the express close if there is any doubt. Theoperator can still close the window by holding the switch in the windowclosing position and the window will then close slowly as it now does invehicles without the express close feature.

[0159] In the second system, two transducers 611 and 612 are used asshown in FIG. 16A and the processor 601 comprises a neural network. Inthis example the system is trained for all cases where the window isdown and at intermediate locations. In operation, the transducersmonitor the window space and feed the received signals to processor 601.As long as the signals are similar to one of the signals for which thenetwork was trained, the express close system is enabled. As before, thedefault is to suppress the express close.

[0160] The use of a resonator, or reflector, to determine whether thevehicle door is properly shut is illustrated in FIG. 17. In this case,the resonator 702 is placed in the B-pillar in such a manner that it isshielded by the door, or by a cover or other inhibiting mechanism (notshown) engaged by the door, and prevented from resonating when the dooris closed. Resonator 702 provides waves 704. If transducers such as 231and 232 in FIG. 3 are used in this system, the closed-door conditionwould be determined by the absence of a return signal from the B-pillar702 resonator. This system permits the substitution of an inexpensiveresonator for a more expensive and less reliable electrical switch.

[0161] The use of an acoustic resonator has been described above. Forthose cases where an infrared laser system is used, an optical mirrorwould replace the mechanical resonator used with the acoustic system. Inthe acoustic system, the resonator can be any of a variety of tunedresonating systems including an acoustic cavity or a vibratingmechanical element.

[0162] A neural network, or other pattern recognition system, can betrained to recognize certain people as permitted operators of a vehicle.In this case, if a non-recognized person attempts to operate thevehicle, the system can disable the vehicle and/or sound an alarm asillustrated in FIG. 18. In this figure the sensing transducers are shownas before as 231A, 232A and 233A, the alarm system schematically as 708and the alarm as 705. Since it is unlikely that an unauthorized operatorwill resemble the authorized operator, the neural network system can bequite tolerant of differences in appearance of the operator. The systemdefaults to where a key must be used in the case that the system doesn'trecognize the driver or the owner wishes to allow another person tooperate the vehicle. The transducers 231A, 232A and 233A are sensitiveto infrared radiation and the operator is irradiated with infrared wavesfrom transducer 231A. This is necessary due to the small size of thefeatures which need to be recognized for high accuracy of recognition.An alternate system uses an infrared laser, which can be 231A in FIG.18, to irradiate or illuminate the operator and a CCD or CMOS device,which can be represented as 232A in FIG. 18, to receive the reflectedimage. In this case, the recognition of the operator is accomplishedusing a pattern recognition system such as described in Popesco, V. andVincent, J. M. “Location of Facial Features Using a Boltzmann Machine toImplement Geometric Constraints”, Chapter 14 of Lisboa, P. J. G. andTaylor, M. J. Editors, Techniques and Applications of Neural Networks,Ellis Horwood Publishers, New York, 1993. In the present case a largerCCD element array containing 100,000 or more elements would in manycases be used instead of the 16 by 16 or 256 element CCD array used byPopesco and Vincent.

[0163] Once a vehicle interior monitoring system employing asophisticated pattern recognition system, such as a neural network orfuzzy logic system, is in place, it is possible to monitor the motionsof the driver over time and determine if he is falling asleep or hasotherwise become incapacitated. In such an event, the vehicle can becaused to respond in a number of different ways. One such system isillustrated in FIG. 19 and consists of a monitoring system havingtransducers 231, 232 and 233 plus microprocessor 101, such as shown inFIG. 7A, programmed to compare the motions of the driver over time andtrained to recognize changes in behavior representative of becomingincapacitated. If the system determines that there is a reasonableprobability that the driver has fallen asleep, for example, then it canturn on a warning light shown here as 805 or send a warning sound. Ifthe driver fails to respond to the warning by pushing a button 806, forexample, then the horn and lights can be operated in a manner to warnother vehicles and the vehicle brought to a stop. One novel approach,not shown, would be to use the horn as the button 806. For a momentarydepression of the horn, for this case, the horn would not sound.Naturally other responses can also be programmed.

[0164] An even more sophisticated system of monitoring the behavior ofthe driver is to track his eye motions using such techniques as aredescribed in: Freidman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,052 “Eye TrackerCommunication System”; Heyner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,189 “EyePosition Sensor”; Hutchinson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,670 “Eye MovementDetector”; and Hutchinson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,069 “Eye MovementDetector With Improved Calibration and Speed”, all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety to the extent thedisclosure of these references is necessary. The detection of theimpaired driver in particular can be best determined by thesetechniques. Also, in a similar manner as described in these patents, themotion of the driver's eyes can be used to control various systems inthe vehicle permitting hands off control of the entertainment system,heating and air conditioning system or all of the other systemsdescribed above. Although some of these systems have been described inthe afore-mentioned patents, none have made use of neural networks forinterpreting the eye movements.

[0165] In most of the applications described above, single frequencyenergy was used to irradiate various occupying items of the passengercompartment. This was for illustrative purposes only and this inventionis not limited to single frequency irradiation. In many applications, itis useful to use several discrete frequencies or a band of frequencies.In this manner, considerably greater information is received from thereflected irradiation permitting greater discrimination betweendifferent classes of objects. In general each object will have differentreflectivities and transmissivities at each frequency. Also, thedifferent resonators placed at different positions in the passengercompartment can now be tuned to different frequencies making it easierto isolate one resonator from another.

[0166] Among the inventions disclosed above is an arrangement forobtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passengercompartment of a vehicle comprises at least one wave-receiving sensorfor receiving waves from the passenger compartment, generating meanscoupled to the wave-receiving sensor(s) for generating information aboutthe occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the waves receivedby the wave-receiving sensor(s) and communications means coupled to thegenerating means for transmitting the information about the occupancy ofthe passenger compartment. As such, response personnel can receive theinformation about the occupancy of the passenger compartment and respondappropriately, if necessary. There may be several wave-receiving sensorsand they may be, e.g., ultrasonic wave-receiving sensors,electromagnetic wave-receiving sensors, capacitance sensors, orcombinations thereof. The information about the occupancy of thepassenger compartment can include the number of occupants in thepassenger compartment, as well as whether each occupant is movingnon-reflexively and breathing. A transmitter may be provided fortransmitting waves into the passenger compartment such that eachwave-receiving sensor receives waves transmitted from the transmitterand modified by passing into and at least partially through thepassenger compartment. One or more memory units may be coupled to thegenerating means for storing the information about the occupancy of thepassenger compartment and to the communications means. Thecommunications means then can interrogate the memory unit(s) upon acrash of the vehicle to thereby obtain the information about theoccupancy of the passenger compartment. In one particularly usefulembodiment, means for determining the health state of at least oneoccupant are provided, e.g., a heartbeat sensor, a motion sensor such asa micropower impulse radar sensor for detecting motion of the at leastone occupant and motion sensor for determining whether the occupant(s)is/are breathing, and coupled to the communications means. Thecommunications means can interrogate the health state determining meansupon a crash of the vehicle to thereby obtain and transmit the healthstate of the occupant(s). The health state determining means can alsocomprise a chemical sensor for analyzing the amount of carbon dioxide inthe passenger compartment or around the at least one occupant or fordetecting the presence of blood in the passenger compartment. Movementof the occupant can be determined by monitoring the weight distributionof the occupant(s), or an analysis of waves from the space occupied bythe occupant(s). Each wave-receiving sensor generates a signalrepresentative of the waves received thereby and the generating meansmay comprise a processor for receiving and analyzing the signal from thewave-receiving sensor in order to generate the information about theoccupancy of the passenger compartment. The processor can comprisespattern recognition means for classifying an occupant of the seat sothat the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartmentincludes the classification of the occupant. The wave-receiving sensormay be a micropower impulse radar sensor adapted to detect motion of anoccupant whereby the motion of the occupant or absence of motion of theoccupant is indicative of whether the occupant is breathing. As such,the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartmentgenerated by the generating means is an indication of whether theoccupant is breathing. Also, the wave-receiving sensor may generate asignal representative of the waves received thereby and the generatingmeans receive this signal over time and determine whether any occupantsin the passenger compartment are moving. As such, the information aboutthe occupancy of the passenger compartment generated by the generatingmeans includes the number of moving and non-moving occupants in thepassenger compartment.

[0167] A related method for obtaining and conveying information aboutoccupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle comprises the steps ofreceiving waves from the passenger compartment, generating informationabout the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the receivedwaves, and transmitting the information about the occupancy of thepassenger compartment whereby response personnel can receive theinformation about the occupancy of the passenger compartment. Waves maybe transmitted into the passenger compartment whereby the transmittedwaves are modified by passing into and at least partially through thepassenger compartment and then received. The information about theoccupancy of the passenger compartment may be stored in at least onememory unit which is subsequently interrogated upon a crash of thevehicle to thereby obtain the information about the occupancy of thepassenger compartment. A signal representative of the received waves canbe generated by sensors and analyzed in order to generate theinformation about the state of health of at least one occupant of thepassenger compartment and/or to generate the information about theoccupancy of the passenger compartment (i.e., determine non-reflexivemovement and/or breathing indicating life). Pattern recognitiontechniques, e.g., a trained neural network, can be applied to analyzethe signal and thereby recognize and identify any occupants of thepassenger compartment. In this case, the identification of the occupantsof the passenger compartment can be included into the information aboutthe occupancy of the passenger compartment.

[0168] Other embodiments disclosed above are directed to methods andarrangements for controlling deployment of an airbag. One exemplifyingembodiment of an arrangement for controlling deployment of an airbagfrom an airbag module to protect an occupant in a seat of a vehicle in acrash comprises determining means for determining the position of theoccupant or a part thereof, and control means coupled to the determiningmeans for controlling deployment of the airbag based on the determinedposition of the occupant or part thereof. The determining means maycomprise receiver means, e.g., a wave-receiving transducer such as anelectromagnetic wave receiver (such as a CCD, CMOS, capacitor plate orantenna) or an ultrasonic transducer, for receiving waves from a spaceabove a seat portion of the seat and processor means coupled to thereceiver means for generating a signal representative of the position ofthe occupant or part thereof based on the waves received by the receivermeans. The determining means can include transmitter means fortransmitting waves into the space above the seat portion of the seatwhich are receivable by the receiver means. The receiver means may bemounted in various positions in the vehicle, including in a door of thevehicle, in which case, the distance between the occupant and the doorwould be determined, i.e., to determine whether the occupant is leaningagainst the door, and possibly adjacent the airbag module if it issituated in the door, or elsewhere in the vehicle. The control means aredesigned to suppress deployment of the airbag, control the time at whichdeployment of the airbag starts, control the rate of gas flow into theairbag, control the rate of gas flow out of the airbag and/or controlthe rate of deployment of the airbag.

[0169] Another arrangement for controlling deployment of an airbagcomprises determining means for determining whether an occupant ispresent in the seat, and control means coupled to the determining meansfor controlling deployment of the airbag based on whether an occupant ispresent in the seat, e.g., to suppress deployment if the seat isunoccupied. The determining means may comprise receiver means, e.g., awave-receiving transducer such as an ultrasonic transducer, CCD, CMOS,capacitor plate, capacitance sensor or antenna, for receiving waves froma space above a seat portion of the seat and processor means coupled tothe receiver means for generating a signal representative of thepresence or absence of an occupant in the seat based on the wavesreceived by the receiver means. The determining means may optionallyinclude transmitter means for transmitting waves into the space abovethe seat portion of the seat which are receivable by the receiver means.Further, the determining means may be designed to determine the positionof the occupant or a part thereof when an occupant is in the seat inwhich case, the control means are arranged to control deployment of sideairbag based on the determined position of the occupant or part thereof.

[0170] One method for controlling deployment of an airbag from an airbagmodule comprising the steps of determining the position of the occupantor a part thereof, and controlling deployment of the airbag based on thedetermined position of the occupant or part thereof. The position of theoccupant or part thereof is determined as in the arrangement describedabove.

[0171] Another method for controlling deployment of an airbag comprisesthe steps of determining whether an occupant is present in the seat, andcontrolling deployment of the airbag based on the presence or absence ofan occupant in the seat. The presence of the occupant, and optionallyposition of the occupant or a part thereof, are determined as in thearrangement described above.

[0172] Furthermore, disclosed above are methods for controlling a systemin the vehicle based on an occupying item in which at least a portion ofthe passenger compartment in which the occupying item is situated isirradiated, radiation from the occupying item are received, e.g., by aplurality of sensors or transducers each arranged at a discretelocation, the received radiation is processed by a processor in order tocreate one or more electronic signals characteristic of the occupyingitem based on the received radiation, each signal containing a patternrepresentative and/or characteristic of the occupying item and eachsignal is then categorized by utilizing pattern recognition techniquesfor recognizing and thus identifying the class of the occupying item. Inthe pattern recognition process, each signal is processed into acategorization thereof based on data corresponding to patterns ofreceived radiation stored within the pattern recognition means andassociated with possible classes of occupying items of the vehicle. Oncethe signal(s) is/are categorized, the operation of the system in thevehicle may be affected based on the categorization of the signal(s),and thus based on the occupying item. If the system in the vehicle is avehicle communication system, then an output representative of thenumber of occupants in the vehicle may be produced based on thecategorization of the signal(s) and the vehicle communication systemthus controlled based on such output. Similarly, if the system in thevehicle is a vehicle entertainment system or heating and airconditioning system, then an output representative of specific seatoccupancy may be produced based on the categorization of the signal(s)and the vehicle entertainment system or heating and air conditioningsystem thus controlled based on such output. In one embodiment designedto ensure safe operation of the vehicle, the attentiveness of theoccupying item is determined from the signal(s) if the occupying item isan occupant, and in addition to affecting the system in the vehiclebased on the categorization of the signal, the system in the vehicle isaffected based on the determined attentiveness of the occupant.

[0173] One embodiment of the interior monitoring system in accordancewith the invention comprises means for irradiating at least a portion ofthe passenger compartment in which an occupying item is situated,receiver means for receiving radiation from the occupying item, e.g., aplurality of receivers, each arranged at a discrete location, processormeans coupled to the receivers for processing the received radiationfrom each receiver in order to create a respective electronic signalcharacteristic of the occupying item based on the received radiation,each signal containing a pattern representative of the occupying item,categorization means coupled to the processor means for categorizing thesignals, and output means coupled to the categorization means foraffecting another system within the vehicle based on the categorizationof the signals characteristic of the occupying item. The categorizationmeans may use a pattern recognition technique for recognizing and thusidentifying the class of the occupying item by processing the signalsinto a categorization thereof based on data corresponding to patterns ofreceived radiation and associated with possible classes of occupyingitems of the vehicle. Each signal may comprise a plurality of data, allof which is compared to the data corresponding to patterns of receivedradiation and associated with possible classes of contents of thevehicle. In one specific embodiment, the system includes locationdetermining means coupled to the processor means for determining thelocation of the occupying item, e.g., based on the received radiationsuch that the output means which are coupled to the location determiningmeans, in addition to affecting the other system based on thecategorization of the signals characteristic of the occupying item,affect the system based on the determined location of the occupyingitem. In another embodiment to determine the presence or absence of anoccupant, the categorization means comprise pattern recognition meansfor recognizing the presence or absence of an occupying item in thepassenger compartment by processing each signal into a categorizationthereof signal based on data corresponding to patterns of receivedradiation and associated with possible occupying items of the vehicleand the absence of such occupying items.

[0174] All of the above-described methods and apparatus may be used inconjunction with one another and in combination with the methods andapparatus for optimizing the driving conditions for the occupants of thevehicle described herein.

[0175] Although several preferred embodiments are illustrated anddescribed above, there are possible combinations using other geometries,sensors, materials and different dimensions for the components thatperform the same functions. This invention is not limited to the aboveembodiments and should be determined by the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A vehicle including an arrangement for controlling audioreception by at least one occupant of a passenger compartment of thevehicle, comprising: a monitoring system for determining the position ofthe at least one occupant; and sound generating means coupled to saidmonitoring system for generating specific sounds, said sound generatingmeans being automatically adjustable based on the determined position ofthe at least one occupant such that the specific sounds are audible tothe at least one occupant.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein saidsound generating means utilize hypersonic sound.
 3. The vehicle of claim1 , wherein said sound generating means comprise ultrasonic frequencygenerators for generating ultrasonic waves, each of said ultrasonicfrequency generators generating ultrasonic waves which mix withultrasonic waves generated by another one of said ultrasonic frequencygenerators to thereby create new audio frequencies.
 4. The vehicle ofclaim 1 , further comprising: a system for detecting the presence anddirection of unwanted noise, said sound generating means being coupledto said unwanted noise presence and detection system and beingstructured and arranged to direct sound to prevent reception of theunwanted noise by the at least one occupant.
 5. The vehicle of claim 1 ,wherein said arrangement controls audio reception by a plurality ofoccupants, said monitoring system determines the position of theoccupants and said sound generating means are automatically adjustableto generate different specific sounds for each of the occupants based onthe determined position of the occupant such that each of the specificsounds are audible only to that occupant.
 6. The vehicle of claim 5 ,wherein said sound generating means comprising a plurality of sets oftwo ultrasonic frequency generators, one of said ultrasonic frequencygenerators in each of said sets generating ultrasonic waves which mixwith ultrasonic waves generated by the other of said ultrasonicfrequency generators in said set to thereby create new audiofrequencies.
 7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein said sets of ultrasonicfrequency generators are controlled independently of one another so thateach of the occupants is able to have different new audio frequenciescreated.
 8. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein said sound generating meanscomprise speakers, said speakers being controllable based on thedetermined positions of the occupants such that at least one of saidspeakers directs sounds toward each of the occupants.
 9. The vehicle ofclaim 1 , wherein said monitoring system is structured and arranged todetermine the position of the head of the at least one occupant, saidsound generating means being adjustable based on the determined positionof the head of the at least one occupant.
 10. The vehicle of claim 1 ,wherein said monitoring system is structured and arranged to determinethe position of the ears of the at least one occupant, said soundgenerating means being adjustable based on the determined position ofthe ears of the at least one occupant.
 11. The vehicle of claim 1 ,wherein said monitoring system comprises at least one wave-receivingsensor for receiving waves from the passenger compartment, and aprocessor coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor fordetermining the position of the at least one occupant based on the wavesreceived by said at least one wave-receiving sensor.
 12. The vehicle ofclaim 11 , further comprising at least one transmitter for transmittingwaves into a passenger compartment such that each of said at least onewave-receiving sensor receives waves transmitted from one of said atleast one transmitter and passed into and at least partially through thepassenger compartment.
 13. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein saidprocessor includes pattern recognition means for determining theposition of the at least one occupant.
 14. The vehicle of claim 1 ,wherein said monitoring system is arranged to determine the position ofat least one object other than the occupants, said sound generatingmeans being controlled in consideration of the determined position ofthe at least one object.
 15. A method for controlling audio reception byoccupants in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising the stepsof: determining the position of at least one occupant of the vehicle;providing a sound generator for generating specific sounds; andautomatically adjusting the sound generator based on the determinedposition of the at least one occupant such that the specific sounds areaudible to the at least one occupant.
 16. The method of claim 15 ,wherein the step of providing a sound generator comprises the step ofutilizing at least one hypersonic sound generator.
 17. The method ofclaim 15 , wherein the step of providing a sound generator comprises thesteps of providing ultrasonic frequency generators and generatingultrasonic waves by means of each ultrasonic frequency generator whichmix with ultrasonic waves generated by another ultrasonic frequencygenerator to thereby create new audio frequencies.
 18. The method ofclaim 15 , further comprising the step of detecting the presence anddirection of unwanted noise and directing sound from the sound generatorto prevent reception of the unwanted noise by the at least one occupant.19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of determining theposition of at least one occupant of the vehicle comprises the step ofdetermining the position of a plurality of occupants, the step ofautomatically adjusting the sound generator based on the determinedposition of the at least one occupant comprising the step ofautomatically adjusting the sound generator to generate differentspecific sounds for each of the occupants based on the determinedposition of the occupant such that each of the specific sounds areaudible only to that occupant.
 20. The method of claim 19 , wherein thestep of providing the sound generator comprises the step of providing aplurality of sets of two ultrasonic frequency generators, one of theultrasonic frequency generators in each of the sets generatingultrasonic waves which mix with ultrasonic waves generated by the otherof the ultrasonic frequency generators in that set to thereby create newaudio frequencies.
 21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising thestep of independently controlling the sets of ultrasonic frequencygenerators so that each of the occupants is able to have different newaudio frequencies created.
 22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the stepof providing the sound generator comprises the step of providingspeakers, the step of automatically adjusting the sound generator togenerate different specific sounds for each of the occupants comprisingthe step of controlling the speakers based on the determined positionsof the occupants such that at least one of the speakers directs soundstoward each of the occupants.
 23. The method of claim 15 , wherein thestep of determining the position of at least one occupant of the vehiclecomprises the step of determining the position of the head of the atleast one occupant, the step of automatically adjusting the soundgenerator based on the determined position of the at least one occupantcomprising the step of automatically adjusting the sound generator basedon the determined position of the head of the at least one occupant. 24.The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of determining the position ofat least one occupant of the vehicle comprises the step of determiningthe position of the ears of the at least one occupant, the step ofautomatically adjusting the sound generator based on the determinedposition of the at least one occupant comprising the step ofautomatically adjusting the sound generator based on the determinedposition of the ears of the at least one occupant.
 25. The method ofclaim 15 , wherein the step of determining the position of the at leastone occupant comprises the steps of receiving waves from the passengercompartment at at least one wave-receiving sensor, and determining theposition of the at least one occupant based on the waves received by theat least one wave-receiving sensor.
 26. The method of claim 25 , furthercomprising the step of transmitting waves into the passenger compartmentsuch that each of the at least one wave-receiving sensor receivestransmitted waves which have passed into and at least partially throughthe passenger compartment.
 27. The method of claim 25 , wherein the stepof determining the position of the at least one occupant based on thewaves received by the at least one wave-receiving sensor comprises thestep of utilizing pattern recognition means.
 28. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of: determining the positions of objectsother than the at least one occupant; and controlling the soundgenerator in consideration of the determined positions of the objectsother than the at least one occupant.
 29. A vehicle including anarrangement for controlling audio reception by occupants of a passengercompartment of the vehicle, comprising: a monitoring system fordetermining the presence of any occupants; and sound generating meanscoupled to said monitoring system for generating specific sounds, saidsound generating means being automatically adjustable based on thedetermined presence of any occupants such that the specific sounds areaudible to any occupants present in the passenger compartment.
 30. Thevehicle of claim 29 , wherein said sound generating means compriseultrasonic frequency generators for generating ultrasonic waves, each ofsaid ultrasonic frequency generators generating ultrasonic waves whichmix with ultrasonic waves generated by another one of said ultrasonicfrequency generators to thereby create new audio frequencies.
 31. Thevehicle of claim 29 , wherein said sound generating means comprisespeakers, said speakers being controllable based on the determinedpresence of any occupants such that at least one of said speakersdirects sounds toward each of the occupants.